Wednesday, November 7, 1979 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Page Fifteen FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM The history of the Stark family

First in a series many dishes to wipe. The history of the Stark family, She seldom took part in play with as written by Marie Stark- Wallace other children outside. Sometimes [1867-1966], is a moving chronicle she would fight if other children of the first negro settlers on Salt were abusive but most of her time Spring Island In her manuscript, was spent learning to sew or knit, which she wrote at the age of 93, Her first knitting was done on Mrs. Stark-Wallace traces her broom straws. "When you learn to routes back to a town in Missouri knit" her mother said, "I will get where her father, Howard Estes, you some knitting needles." bought the family's freedom from She practically taught herself to slavery only to be driven out by the read. The little Leopold child she KluKluxKlan. used to nurse taught her the The family moved west and alphabet and when the white settled in California, but state laws children did their home work, she oppressive to blacks forced them to would listen. When they went out look elsewhere. They heard of the to play and left their books, she fir-covered hills ofB. C. and decid­ would look at them and rehearse ed to head north. them to herself. Mrs. Leopold The manuscript, which has never would have been very angry if she been published, begins with the had known this was going on as it story of Marie Stark-Wallace's was against the law to teach a mother, who was born in slavery to slave. With these small beginnings the family of a German baker in Sylvia learned to read. Missouri. TAUGHT THEIR CHILDREN Howard Estes and his wife were It is said that memory is the of the same mind in raising their heritage of old age. children. Though at a great disad­ It was to Sylvia Stark a diary vantage themselves, not being able richly filled with the strange and to read, they taught their children unusual happenings of her past to pray and observe the Sabbath. life. It was on those occasions when Sylvia never forgot the lesson she seemed to be living in the past, her father taught her. One Sunday she would tell some of her early morning, their mother was working experiences, and I kept silent for at the big house, and their father fear of breaking the spell. tended to the children. Sylvia had Although at that time I had no her new clothes on and could thought of preserving those memo­ hardly wait for her father to finish ries, I was simply interested in combing her hair. She was so listening to her tales. Some of happy she skipped through the those tales were very sad relating door. Quickly her father called her to the condition of the slaves. The back, saying, "This is Sunday, now blood of those poor tortured souls walk out with more modesty, not cries to God from the ground, but like a horse bolting through a barn the Great Creator has a time set for door." judgment of the oppressor and a Sylvia never forgot the lesson, new life for the oppressed. even after she and her son had Sylvia Stark's maiden name was grown old. When their hay was out Sylvia Estes. She was born in Clay in the field on Sunday and the County, Missouri, in 1839 and was clouds threatened rain, she would the youngest of three children who, Provincial Archives photo An early photo of Marie Stark wait until the morrow. with their mother, Hannah Estes, on Salt Spring Island. She lived The Estes family went to church; worked for a German baker named and her younger sister Louise. with her mother Sylvia and Except for a short time in of course the coloured people were Charles Leopold. brother Willis until she married seated back by the door but they Vancouver, Marie spent all her life THEIR MASTERS' NAMES Joseph Benjamin Wallace in 1897. were allowed to partake of the Their father, Howard Estes, sacrament after the white folks had worked for a Scotsman named Tom " If I went back now, they would cut "Ni—-, let the white children come theirs. And the sermon, especially Estes. The slaves bore the names off my head." first." for the slaves, was "servants obey of their masters. Sylvia's father Mrs. Leopold was not in accord "Never do that again," said Mr. your masters". Every slave knew considered himself lucky to be with her husband; she thought they Leopold. He had put a nice doll on that part of the bible by heart. privileged to visit his family over should conform to the southern the tree for Sylvia, but the joy of Although Mrs. Estes could not the weekends. rules for handling slaves. Christmas was lost to Sylvia. That read, she was not deceived. She The abolitionist movement spon­ HER FIRST AWAKENING incident had served its purpose and said no one could convince her that sored by William Lloyd Garrison It was one Christmas morning never had to be repeated again. God was the author of slavery. had been in operation since 1831. It when little Sylvia had her first From that time on, Sylvia was Sylvia remembered on one was a menace to the slave owners. awakening. The children were very thinking with the mind of a slave. occasion the taking of the sacra­ They tried to suppress it but to no agreeable and were allowed to play When her mother became ill she ment became positively loathsome, avail. together at this special season. was anxious and wondered what changing her whole concept of the will happen to me if Ma dies; performance. The minister used Mr. Leopold was very much While waiting for their tree to be impressed with the movement. He where will I go? the low language of a boss to his arranged in another room, they ASSOCIATED WITH WORK slaves, ending with, "God knows said he was against slavery and challenged who would be the first would quit the traffic eventually, Sylvia's first recollections of her you are a hard nation.'' to see the tree. "I will," cried little childhood days were associated but he could not return to Ger­ Sylvia, and being small she crept in many. with work. She said she must have close to the door. When the door been very small. She remembered [Next week, part two of Marie He said all Germans going to the was opened she was the first one U.S. were under oath; if they ever that her mother used to tie her big Stark-Wallace's manuscript tells in. Suddenly, she felt herself apron around her neck and stand more stories of the life of the Estes held slaves, the penalty if they jerked roughly back and Mrs. returned would be death. He said, her up on a chair to dry dishes for family before their hard-earned Leopold, scolding loudly, cried, the white folks, and there were so emancipation. , *ren« wwinrnrn/in

Page Ten GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Wednesday, November 14, 1979 THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY The dawn of freedom

Second of a series quelled a race riot at an anti-slavery CALLED MOSES' who nursed her in a home for the aged This second installment of Marie meeting. It made him very unpopular That was not the only wound she in Syracuse, New York. Stark-Wallace's manuscript includes with the slave-holders. These erup­ received while trying to rescue her MADE A CONTRACT the stories and conditions of the tions worried Sylvia too. What race. She was knocked unconscious The dawn of freedom came to the Leopold slaves of Clay County, while trying to protect a slave. She Estes family in 1849. The gold rush Missouri. One of the Leopold slaves, troubled her mother, troubled her ever since that Christmas morning. was called the "Moses" of her race. was on and livestock was in great Sylvia Estes-Stark, belonged to one o) demand. Tom Estes, Howard's boss, six black families living on Salt Spring Life for Sylvia was surrounded with was sending cattle to California. Island in 1860. terrorism. It was not safe for coloured Tom's two sons and Howard went as Life for the Leopole slaves would children to play outside of their own herders. The boss made a contract have been comparatively easy but for homes. They kidnapped coloured with Howard, agreeing to give How­ the nagging disposition of Mrs. children and sold them down south to ard his freedom papers on receipt of Leopold. Perhaps she thought if her the cotton fields from whence they one thousand dollars, allowing him husband would not rule their slaves never returned. Sometimes a stranger the privilege of making the money in according to custom in a slave state, would offer candy to Sylvia. She California. she would. always refused it and ran home. Howard worked in the gold mines, Mrs. Estes usually went through Look beyond, made the money and sent it to Tom in these eruptions calmly, although they there's light for thee. w care of his sons according to contract. made her angry- It came to a climax Streaming o'er Tom received the money, but refused when her mistress called her to make a a turbulent sea. l> f \ m to give Howard his free papers. fire in the kiln when her hands were in Soft it smiles, Unwilling to be thwarted he made the dough. So she explained to her though distant far, another $1,000, sending it directly to mistress that she could not make it at The beautiful polar star. Charles Leopold. It was carried safely that moment as she was making bread FINALLY SOLD in the pocket of a German friend and 4 m%it and did not want to spoil her bread. Sylvia remembered Harriet Tub­ delivered to Charles Leopold. Apparently Mrs. Leopold was out man as one of the Leopold slaves. She %^> CLAIMED THE MONEY purposely to start a rcw. She said. appeared to be young, only a teenage When Tom Estes heard about it, he "How dare you disobey my or girl, but she was stocky and strong, / claimed that money too, on the and a good worker. But she found it Hannah Estes was not afraid of the SYLVIA STARK-ESTES grounds that Howard was his slave. big German woman. Hot words hard to work under Mrs. Leopold. Leopold contended that Howard was passed between them. A quarrel was She was finally sold to a slave- $40,000 was offered for her capture. in a free state, and therefore a free precipitated that nearly proved breaker. His business was making the Harriet Tubman saved her parents man. Then Tom sued Leopold and disastrous. When Charles Leopold slaves be submissive to their masters. and hundreds of slaves through the was awarded S800, but was forced to came in he heard his wife's story which Often they were treated to a daily underground railway, assisted by relinquish Howard's free papers. was very much distorted. He was very flogging. But when he tried to flog both white and coloured people, who The time seemed long while waiting angry. He said he would be ruined if Harriet Tubman, to his surprise she took part in the underground work. their father's return. Sylvia saw the this went around, that he allowed his flogged him, scratched his face, tore The underground railway was a anxious strain of that long wait in her slaves to talk back. his clothing and pounded him so sev­ network of secret routes operated by mother's face and how she frequently SHE WOULD HAVE FOUGHT erely, he abandoned the cowhide and land and water. She being a woman of went away alone to the seclusion of an He held a menacing whip in hi; threatened to shoot her. She bared her great strength and endurance, finally old shed. Sylvia was anxious about hand, but Hannah would have fought bosom without flinching, saying escaped through this system. Many her mother, so one day she stole out to with all the strength she possessed if "Shoot and bed—, I would rather die times her life was in danger, but she the shed and peeped through the he had attempted to flog her. Her wild than live such a life." He shot low to always followed the north star while crack. She saw her mother on her fleeing north at night with a band of Madagascar blood was aroused. It cripple her. knees praying for the safe return of refugees. was settled at last with a sound lecture Mrs. Estes visited her when she was Howard, and that her children would to both women, Mrs. Leopold sob­ layed up sick. To her she told her pit­ She lived through the Civil War and be blessed and free. bing the while because her scheme to iful story. It was a long time before she served as a scout in the northern army, Next week, part three of Marie have Hannah flogged had failed. could walk on that foot but her spirit and built a home for the aged in New Stark-Wallace's manuscript tells of At a considerable risk to himself, remained unbroken, as her life Yqrk. The last they heard of Harriet her grandfather Howard and his fami­ Mr. Leopold had on one occasion showed for many years after that. Tubman was from a coloured woman ly's trek to California. Page Eight GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Wednesday, November 21, 1979 THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY Westward bound by wagon train

Their freedom was finally They made their pancakes and After a long talk with him he bought, yet continual persecution bacon taste smokey, but they ate finally agreed to accept gifts, such drove Howard Estes and his family them with relish; they had excel­ as flour and other provisions. They out of Clay County, Missouri, and lent appetites, then the mosquitoes thought they were fortunate to lose west to California. were so thick they covered the lids only three horses to the Indians. This third instalment of the of the pots while the cooking was BACK TO THEIR CAMP History of the Stark Family begins going on. Then the chief walked to his on a westward bound wagon train. Sometimes they were so parched tent door and gave one loud whoop. Sylvia remembered it was the for water they drank water from a Instantly the shouting ceased and first day of April, 1851, when they stream where the carcasses of dead all of the Indians rode back to their left Missouri. animals lay; it was hard for Sylvia's camp.. They made a jolly start by mother to get used to this. She However, they did not trust the making April Fool jokes, etc. went further up-stream only to find Indians, they left that place for fear Sylvia and her mother gathered more cow horns protruding from they might attempt another raid in wild greens, as they passed the water, the stream was lined for the morning. miles with the bleaching bones of through the country and they had As they continued their journey animals probably from drinking too one last good feed of old Missouri with watchfulness and care, they much water: cold water on a hot wild greens. came upon eight men travelling on stomach. The first station they came to foot; they were a sorry spectacle, was called Fort Pillar, said to be EWES DEVOURED their caravan had been raided by the place where the Red man, in a One awful sight on the journey the Indians rushing their camp and most strenuous battle, fought the Sylvia would not forget, seeing the making off with their ready loaded white man for the freedom of the ewes of the sheep too heavy with wagons. In their haste they spilled plains. It was then settled with young to travel, left behind only to a quantity of flour, all that was left white people. be devoured by ferocious coyotes. to the men was the flour and a few INDIAN CAMPSITE She tried to scare them by throwing cooking untensils. Then they camped where stones at them. In this she had to there was good grazing for the be careful of herself, it was the One of the men slit the leg of his cattle, Humbolt Creek. It had once time for her to listen to her parents' pants up to the knee, tied one end been a campsite for the Indians. warning. In those days the immi­ to hold the flour which they They met two white women, who as grants felt they were fortunate if scooped up from the ground, they children had witnessed the slaying they themselves were not left had travelled on this for three days, of their parents, a sister arid a behind as bleaching bones on the and were very glad for the timely brother, and themselves captured desert, or perhaps in a lonely contact with the Leopold caravan by the Indians. grave. who shared provisions with them. In time they were rescued. They BOOKS TAKEN were both married and still living When the sun came up big and They thought it very strange in the same isolated district where golden above the distant horizon, too that all of their French books stalked the ghost in memory of that casting its cheery rays over the had been taken by the Indians. It dark tragedy. trail, everybody was happy, but was common to see herds of Their story caused Sylvia and her when the sun had gone down, the buffaloes grazing along the trail. mother apprehension for the future moon rose pale and shadowy and They longed for fresh meat, they on the long trail that lay ahead. the coyotes howled around the tried to shoot a buffalo calf, but it But in spite of the dangers attend­ camp. was a difficult matter to get close to ing the journey, Sylvia and her Provincial Archives photo HOWARD ESTES the herd to shoot one, the old brother found life on the great An uneasy feeling was the the ground where he had been everyone heard hoofs coming, in buffaloes formed a circle around plains something new and thrilling. result, every precaution was taken sitting. less time than it takes to tell, they the calves and kept them inside the . From the little prairie dogs to safeguard the animals. A cordon Instantly the alarm was given were surrounded by a large band of circle while they were feeding. The barking and scampering at sight of of wagons was placed around the and every man grabbed his gun, Indians whooping and howling as buffalo bulls would fight if one got them, to the stampeding of great camp, the men slept with their but there was not a sound, not even they raced around the camp to too close. herds of buffalo stampeding at guns stacked close to hand, ready for any emergency. the howl of a coyote. Fearing the make the cattle stampede. Then one of the cowboys of the sight of the caravan. Sylvia would Indians might plan to raid the camp But the poor beasts were too gather the beautiful flowers while camp rode quietly after a herd and DANGER in the morning when the wagons tired to run. Then they increased shot a calf, then he turned quickly walking, only to throw them,away. were loaded and hitched, they left their howling, giving out terrible There was no place to put them. The first intimation they had of and galloped away. There was a danger was on the night Jackson before dawn. yells as they raced around the terrible commotion among the Estes, Sylvia's brother, was on One evening they came to a good camp. Mr. Estes became uneasy, herd, followed by a general stam­ guard; each one took their turn in spot for camping, where there was as the men were preparing to put pede of the whole herd. When it LOCUSTS guarding the camp. plenty of grass for the animals. up a fight, and he was the only man was safe to return they skinned the Sometimes swarms of locusts He was sitting out in the bright They camped early to let the who had his family with him. You calf and divided it to carry on their darkened the sky and fell about the moonlight, gazing at the mounds animals graze. They were making had better do something for these way; they had cutlets for dinner. wagons, creeping inside the can­ and shadows, then he said some­ themselves comfortable when Indians, there are too many for us vas, getting into the cooking uten­ thing told him to go and sit in the someone put his ear to the ground to fight. Next week the Estes family sils and other paraphernalia; often shade of a wagon. He had'scarcely to listen for sounds. Then they decided to give gifts to continue their journey, which the the only fuel they had was sundried moved from his seat when an arrow SURROUNDED the chief, they went to his tent, Stark family history says took three buffalo chips. whizzed past him and stuck fast in They heard sounds alright, soon fortunately he could speak English. days less than six months. Page Ten GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Wednesday, November 28,,1979 THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY The Estes family arrives in California

Fourth in a Series Therefore, he decided to take his and wife, who lived there in the of Mrs. Estes. She, however, mining district 60 miles from the This is the fourth instalment of wife and family on, leaving the rest cabin. regretted the loss of the jar, more capital, and four miles from a town the History of the Stark Family of of the caravan if they wished to THEffi ONLY CHILD than the loss of the jam. Mr. Estes called Placerville, where the Salt Spring Island, as written by stay. He preferred to continue the Inside the fence surrounding the managed to bolster his wagon miners took their maiden gold to Marie Stark-Wallace [1867-1966]. journey alone in his own wagon house was a tiny grave. It was the sufficiently for the rest of the exchange for cash. She wrote the manuscript when she rather than take the risk. grave of their only child. A little journey to California. *It was some years later when Mr. was 97 years old The continuing Then they all decided to make girl, shot down while playing They had been exactly six Estes heard about the Mountain story now finds the family finally the mountains before the rainy outside of her home. Struck with an months less than three days on the Meadows Massacre. One hundred and finishing the journey from Missouri twenty immigrants, men, women and season came on. Also, they had no arrow from the distant hills. journey, when they reached Sacra­ children, were lured into Mountain to California by wagon train. desire to lose their help. They The father- extracted the arrow mento. There the journey disband­ Meadows, where they were shot down stayed for a week to rest their from the child's body and since ed. The Estes family went to the It was some time during the and their goods were confiscated. animals and replenish their stock. there was no habitation for many harvest when they came to Salt During their stay in Salt Lake miles, the parents buried her Lake City. They saw the farmers City they learned some of the there. that lived near the lake driving customs of those peculiar people. Mountain Meadows swarms of grasshoppers into the The mother wanted to leave that . One day a woman came to see dangerous place, but the father lake. The floating'mass of hoppers Mrs. Estes, perhaps more to 9 appeared to be over knee-deep. was doing business there. Probably relieve her troubled mind than just trading with the Indians in furs or scene of'hideous crime It was sometime during the to pay a friendly visit. She said she hides, as many other stations did. harvest when they came to Salt and her husband had made a Anyway, he wanted to stay. A company of emigrants from Mormon escort to the settlements, Lake City. They saw the farmers comfortable home for themselves, When they came to Fort Kerney Arkansas "Francher's Company" their lives would be spared. The that lived near the lake driving and were quite happy not knowing an anxious letter was waiting there and their caravan went forward emigrants, no one of whom was an swarms of grasshoppers into the the laws of the country. for Mr. Leopold. His wife had through the Mormon Settlements experienced frontiersman, accept­ lake. The floating mass of hoppers heard that his caravan had been to the southwest. It could purchase ed this treacherous proposal and appeared to be over knee-deep. ANOTHER WIFE captured by the Indians, and all of few or no supplies; it could make marched out of their camp. They were treated with greatest When Brigham Young visited the occupants slain. He wrote her no trades; it was boycotted. In front of them, lying in hospitality by the Latter Day. their home, he told her husband he immediately assuring her that they Still it went on, until it came to a ambush, were most of the Mor­ Saints. Their leader, Mr. Brigham must get another wife, it came as a were all safe. pleasant little valley known as mons, some of them in Indian garb, Young, paid them a visit and shock to them. They had small TRAVELLED SLOWLY Mountain Meadows - the famous and the Paiutes. At a signal they invited them to stay for the winter means, just enough for them­ News travelled slowly across the Las Vegas de Santa Clara of the opened fire and then rushed upon and pasture their animals in a place selves, and they could not afford to trappers - some 280 miles south­ their victims with knife and rifle. called Mountain Meadows. leave their home. desert. Mrs. Leopold's letter had been written more than a month west of Salt Lake City and 30 miles ALL BUT It was a natural garden of grass Her husband contrived a plan. earlier. The fastest mail for the south of Cedar City. In a few minutes all except 17 and flowers surrounded by hills. He would get an Indian woman for desert those days was the "pony Isaac C. Haight. President of the children were killed. These child­ There was only one entrance to the a wife. She could live in a tent and Parowan Stake of Zion and lieu­ ren, several of whom were wound­ enclosure, and that was also the look after herself. This proved a express", the name given for mail carried by horses. tenant-colonel of the Iron County ed, were placed in a wagon and exit. bitter pill for his wife. She said I On the trail they saw where" Militia, decided that as these afterwards distributed among the STRANGE TALES could Kill B-Young. The native caravans had been raided; what intruders were heretics and blas­ Mormon citizens of Cedar City. They would have stayed for the woman was then living in her own became of the occupants, there was phemers, detestable in the eyes of The property of the victims was winter but Mr. Estes, having tent looking after her half-caste no sign to show. the Lord, they must die; but that as also distributed, but the Indians passed through that country be­ child. '' no innocent blood must be shed,'' and the poorer Mormons asserted fore, had heard strange tales about After leaving Salt Lake City they They saw wagon loads of buffalo children under the age of seven that they received little or none of Indians robbing and killing the passed several stations, one station hides going to market. The hides should be spared. it, and that Lee and the higher immigrants in that ' locality. He named Forgotten. were packed flat on the wagons, GAVE THE ORDERS authorities got a disproportionate suspected that the real source of Sylvia recalled mainly because of piled high and strapped down like To John Doyle Lee he gave the share. the crimes had never been di­ its dire loneliness and what hay, drawn by oxen or horses, four orders for a massacre, and by Lee a The only person ever punished vulged. [*see footnote] happened to the lonely couple, man and six span to a wagon. band of Paiute Indians was incited for this hideous crime was Lee, The skinned carcasses of buffalo to do the deed. An attack was made who by no means was the most were not an uncommon sight along on the morning of September 13, guilty. In a Federal Court in the way, and if they did not see and seven men were killed or September 1876, nearly 20 years Salt Spring them, they knew where they were mortally wounded; but the emi­ later, he was convicted of murder, Ulf) by the ravens. grants returned the fire, killing and on March 23,1877, was shot to As they were passing through three Indians and wounding sev­ death at Mountain Meadows by a Petroleum Products Ltd. the hills the Estes wagon broke eral more. marshal's posse. SUPER down, smashing a large jar of jam Lee, acting as Haight's mes­ (Taken from the book, The PRODUCTS senger, had promised the Indians Road to Oregon, by Agnes Laut). •Residential Heating Fuels the protection of the Great Spirit, Next week the Estes family W. Charles Beale and this loss troubled them. They history relates the hardships and •Industrial & Marine Products D.C. sent for him; he came up and after joys of being free in California, some parley promised reinforce­ although the family remains Specializing in Service Chiropractor ments. Departing, he soon started unaware of new state laws on the Corner ot Fultord-Ganges & back to the scene with 100 Indians horizon which will be oppressive to The plant, Ganges Harbour: 537-5331 Beddis Roads, and 75 Mormons, the latter re­ blacks. Ganges, B.C. maining some distance behind. Residence: 537-9209 or 537-9849 „ Phone 537-9512 On the evening of the 14th and for appointment again on that of the 15th the Indians attached were repulsed. December wn^>- r f SPIRIT REVOLTED On the morning of the 16th a messenger arrived from Haight to program It is now legal to have your own STIHL on Salt Lee with final orders. Lee later testified that though his spirit Spring Island, so come in to revolted at the contents of the Salt Spring Island Trail and message, be felt that he must obey. Nature Club's program for HARBOURS END MARINA The Mormons now joined in pray­ December is as follows. ers and asked God's blessing on December 4: there will be a walk and get yours! the bloody work they had planned. and hike from the Holmes' property on Isabella Point. Jean Lots of new stock just arrived in time for Christmas At two o'clock Lee and a com­ King will lead the hike and Jean panion, under a flag of truce, Holmes the walk. Meeting places. * Stihl Chainsaws visited the emigrants and told them Centennial Park at 10 am, that if they would leave their arms Drummond Park, 10.15. and wagons and return under a * Briggs & Stratton, Tecumseh Engines December II: Tom Fraser will lead a walk in St. Mary's * Ariens Tractors Highlands. Val Keys will lead a W.E. SMITH hike in the Vesuvius area. No * Honda Motorcycles, outboard motors, lunches required. generators, pumps & much more Dental Mechanics Ltd. The club will hold its third annual unofficial bird count on So wrap one of these gifts up and tell Santa to stick it... OPEN December 8. 2nd Floor, Lancer Bldg. Last year 76 volunteers counted 95 species with a total of 16,468 Under the Christmas Tree. Ganges MON. - TUES. - WED. birds. Call Gertrude Smith at 537- 9-12, 1.30-5 9559, or Jean Holmes, 653-4285, if you are interested in helping with HARBOURS END MARINA 537-9611 this project, "which is of great 537-2932 537-2932 Mail to Box 3. Futford Harbour interest to the provincial tfn museum," a club spokesman said. Page Eleven Wednesday, December 5, 1979 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY The Estes settle in free California

Fifth in a series But he also had been swindled and This installment of the Estes'journey preyed upon through misplaced faith. gives the complete story of their sojourn However, the man's case was pitiful, he in California, as told by Marie Stark- was destitute and had no one to turn to. Wallace (1867-1966). Mr. Estes called upon his wife. He had After a long and tiresome journey great confidence in his wife's ability to across the desert they arrived in judge character, although she had no California exactly six months less three education, she was just a pure-blood days, on the journey. Madagascan. The company disbanded, the Estes She said he looks like an honest man, family located in the mining district and she had seldom been mistaken in her about 60 miles from Sacramento, a small estimation of character. So they loaned town at that time. They found an empty the horse and wagon to the man. miner's cabin which they made into a Although it was not without some comfortable home. apprehension they waited for the man's That was a day Sylvia would long return. Time passed, but finally he remember, though the shadow of more returned bringing his wife to see Mrs. than 70 years had fallen between. She Estes. could still recall those moments of ecstasy and calm, the look of joy on her AMAZING TALES mother's face as she went about cleaning She told of her experience on the the cabin and preparing for their first desert. It was another one of the amazing meal in free California. tales Sylvia had heard about the covered Sylvia found a good pot for cooking wagon. The woman's husband had made meals by the fireplace, they gathered a home for his wife and family in sticks and made a fire. "Well have to California and had sent for them. The work hard," her mother said, "but we are wife with her two small children joined a working for ourselves now." It was such caravan owned by a man she knew and a pleasure to be working for themselves, trusted, but when they had covered a they were happy though penniless, and great portion of the journey, far away from any habitation she discovered the among strangers. Sylvia Stark and Marie A. Wallace man's real character. He threatened to AT FACE \ All r. her mother. They made good money to dances, but Sylvia and her brother put her out of the wagon for resisting his SyKia's father had one dollar with although the work was hard with no were not guided by the thinking public. advances, but her courage and loyalty which he bought a small ham. The washing machines in those days. Sylvia They obeyed their parents. They were was unwavering. She felt she could not storekeeper told him he could have tea. had to iron her mother's shoulders with a following the higher precepts of meals. face her husband if she failed under this flour, baking powder and a head of warm iron for rheumatism while she was They had faith in their parents. Just as man's awful threats. cabbage at face value. That wasonetime ironing clothes. They soon had money to we may have childlike faith in God's Finally he did put her out with her two his face was of some value to him. buy a horse and wagon. word; faith in the Gospel. small children and the bundle of her Howard Estes was joyful and he thanked HER HAPPIEST Jesus said: Verily I say unto you, belongings and drove off and left them. the man for his kindness. Mrs. Estes Those days in the tumbled hills of whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom She had an awful feeling alone on the cooked a good dinner all in that one pot. California were the happiest days of of God as a little child, he shall not enter great open space with two helpless babes. She made dumplings and cooked them Sylvia's life. When she and her brother therein. She prayed in agony. Indians, ravenous on top of the meat and cabbage. They found time to explore the country, they Sylvia loved to walk through the red wolves, starvation raced through her enjoyed that meal immensely. learned many of the peculiar traits of the trails gathering wild flowers, California distraught mind. Night was coming on, Then father and son went in search of California Indians. They made fires, and yellow poppy and red geraniums, such as the sun had gone down. other household necessities in deserted when the fire burned low they drove the are cultivated as tame flowers in B.C. cabins. They returned with all the grasshoppers into the hot embers. When LOVED NATURE WOULD BE WELCOME kitchen utensils they needed including a they were roasted they ate them with She loved nature, she loved life. All Any kind of human would be welcome dutch oven: just what they needed for relish. nature was life to Sylvia. The creeping now. She was looking back on the trail baking bread. The miners had made their When they killed the big gray squirrels, deadly rattle snake also was there in when she saw moving objects in the grey stakes, leaving everything behind, and they pounded them to a pulp with stones, hiding. When Sylvia heard the warning distance. As they drew nearer she saw departed with their gold. singed them and roasted them in the hot rattle, she left that place, but her mother that they were two coloured men with a Sylvia's father was hired to work in the embers. When cooked, they ate them killed the snakes with stones. donkey and all of their belongings gold mines, while Sylvia and her brother bones and all. The miners were often bitten by these packed on its back. panned the fine gold where once rich Their bread was acorns pounded to snakes. They had to have a doctor Her prayer was answered. She mines had been. They sold their gold meal. The Indians were very poor, which quickly or they would die. determined to beg them for help, dust and made, on an average, a dollar a Mrs. Estes learned when an aged and During the summer season a thin although in the state where she came day. They were very proud of their gains. destitute Indian woman came to their cotton sheet was all the cover they needed from they were not considered reliable. INTO THE BANK house. They always gave her a meal and on those hot nights. They were forced to The two men were visibly shocked seeing Every cent made was added to the fruit or vegetables to carry home. keep their windows closed and nailed her plight. Then she heard them say in family bank, which was a tin can hid One day she came complaini ng that the tight for fear of thieves in that mining lowered voices, "What can we do, we under a bed. Their father was a man of old hog meat man had forbidden her to district. Crime was a common haven't enough grub for ourselves?" "But saving qualities, if he only had a dollar pick up acorns from under the trees, he experience. we can't leave her here." left after all expenses were paid, he would wanted them for his pigs. There was a One day a stranger came to the door Then they asked her if she could walk. lay that away. time when some of the native tribes used and asked if Mr. Estes would loan him his "Well put the children on the donkey," The cost of living was high and the their free land to raise the yellow corn horse and wagon. His wife and family they said. She was only too glad to walk, poorest grade of flour, sometimes smut and make their own gardens. had come across the plains and were although it made her feet sore. wheat flour, was $15 a barrel. When Mr. CHURCH MAN waiting for him somewhere on the By stinting themselves, they managed Estes turned to farming he raised his own Mr. Estes was a good church man. highway. to feed the children until they came to a grain and had it ground at the mill. Often the family walked to church to give He had been around to all of his settlement of white people. Now you are He sold butter, eggs and vegetables. their horse a rest. Sylvia and her brother neighbours but none of them would trust with your own people, they said. They His first hen cost him $2.50. They raised always had their shoes polished and him. As a last resort he came to the can look after you, and there they left her. fruit and tomatoes, but they were so shined for Sunday, but when they walked coloured family. cheap they had some to give away. Their to church they went most of the way bare­ NOT EAGER Next week the Estes family decide to farm kept them in sciod circumstances, foot, carrying their shoes to put them on The horse and wagon was Mr. Estes' emigrate from California along with 600 but Mrs. Estes chose to take in washing. before entering the church, keeping them main support and he was not eager to other coloured people, leaving by Pleated shirts, which were very stylish, clean and bright. bestow charity and confidence on a steamship and overland by the Oregon were $3 each, frilled dresses were from $5 Wherever you may go you will always perfect stranger, much as he would have Trail for destinations as far away as nip. find the gossiper. They said the Estes liked, he had put his trust in a man when Australia, Victoria, B.C. and Salt Spring Everybody wore white. Sylvia helped family were proud because they didn't go in slavery and gained his freedom. Island. Wednesday, December 12, 1979 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Page Nine THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY B.C. spells freedom for the Estes, Starks Sixth in a series In this instalment some gaps in Marie Jackson Estes "does not appear to have Stark- Wallace's manuscript have been done much farming, for in a few years he filled in with quotes from the B.C. sold his farm and eventually started a Historical Magazine and information brewery business in Victoria." supplied by her daughter, Mrs. Robert "The Gold Rush brought in some 25,000 Holloman. Americans seeking riches. They materi­ "The emancipation of the slaves in the ally influenced the life and thought of the U.S. was a burning political question. The community in those days, but many of Negro people were dissatisfied with the them not in any elevating or lasting laws of the country. They met at San manner." Francisco to discuss how best they could "They got all the gold they could find - improve their hard lot. and that was not much - and hied "A committee was sent to B.C. to themselves back across the line where interview the government. Governor their welcome, we hope, was as great as Douglas received them and extended the relief of th«. Canadians, to see them them a cordial welcome to establish depart." themselves on British soil. "They came for gold and brought no "As a result of the favorable report by lasting contribution with them, but they the committee, 600. coloured people came made things noisy and sometimes trouble­ to B.C., some came up on two pioneer some while here. This was especially true steamships, Brother Jonathan and to their attitude and actions toward the Pacific." many Negroes who came about the same In 1858 Howard Estes decided to leave a time, but not for the same reason." comfortable home and go in search of The tombstone of Hannah, wife of of 62 years. She lived on the Estes farm in greater freedom. The coloured people of Howard fetes and mother of Sylvia, in the Saanich until she died and never moved to STIRRING EVENT California were becoming alarmed over Pioneer Cemetery of Christchurch Cathe­ Salt Spring. "These people were a humble, honest, general agitation under southern pressure dral, Victoria. She died in 1868 at the age industrious and deeply religious group. to make California a slave state. They came seeking liberty and a pleasant In 1852 the federal government had So while Howard Estes left by ship with When the men arrived with the cattle spot to call home. These things were passed a law permitting the return of the women and children, Jackson Estes they went to Victoria, B.C., in a sailing promised by Governor Douglas and these 'Sugnwe slaves^ieeing to northern states to and "Louis Stark drove the cattle and vessel. Much of what transpired from the they obtained with the complete backing be returned to their owners in the South. horses north to B.C. via the old Oregon time they left Stillicum and their final of the governor." TO WEAR BADGES Trail. landing on Salt Spring Island was not - Sylvia remembered that a delegation of It was also required of all coloured Stark had sold all but 50 of his best remembered. coloured people called on Governor Doug­ people in California to wear a distinctive cattle and had joined others of another The first thing Mr. Stark did after las requesting permission to form a colony badge. Furthermore, the state legislature company who were herding their cattle landing in Victoria, he secured naturaliza­ of coloured settlers on Salt Spring Island had taken what appeared to be the first along the same trail. tion papers for all of the familv. about that time, but he refused, saying it steps against the coloured race. The effect IN SAANICH would be to the best interest of all to have was to deprive them of the ability to BY BOAT a mixed settlement. Howard Estes sold his farm for what he Mr. Estes and family located in protect their property from spoliation by Saanich, where he bought property. ACQUIRED LAND the white man. could get and took the women and Some of those coloured people remain­ children to San Francisco and embarked It is recorded that a Mr. Thomas A white person was protected by law ed in Victoria and some went to Salt on the boat Brother Jonathan. The boat Mitchell "in 1867 went out to South from the testimony of a coloured person. Spring and other places. Those who was old and unseaworthy, but it carried a Saanich and bought 125 acres of land from Some of those coloured people went to remained in Victoria acquired valuable heavy cargo. a coloured man by the name of Estes and Australia, some to the Cariboo mines and property, and several took part in the When the ocean was rough the boat an interesting receipt dated March 26th. others to Victoria and Salt Spring Island. city's municipal activities. rolled and creaked with every rising swell. 1868. states that Thomas Mitchell bought Then in the mining district where Mr. That was a busy time for the Starks. They threw 40 head of fine horses of Howard Estes 21 head of cattle, small Estes and Mr. Stark lived, certain laws They were preparing to go to Salt Spring overboard for safety. It was another pitiful and big, 18 pigs, 24 chickens and turkeys, governing mining operations, which were Island and there was a resvless herd of sight that saddened the trip for Sylvia, to one wagon and harness, one plow, milking designed to protect the miners, seemed to cattle to keep in a corral and feed. see those poor animals swimming after pans, etc., for the sum of $650. The clash with the homesteaders' rights. The the boat, crying for help. witness to the receipt was an old pioneer During the families' stay in Victoria, Starks and the Estes were both preparing Mr. Louis Stark, with the help of Howard The boat landed at a place called lawyer of Victoria, H. F. Heisterman." to leave California. They had heard about Howard Estes' son Jackson still owned Estes. located a place on the northwest New Caledonia, as B.C. was then called. Stillicum, Washington. This place was side of Salt Spring and built a cabin on it. sparsely settled with white people and 100 acres which was not sold. "Howard They longed for the freedom of B.C.'s The place located by Stark and Estes Indians. The family stayed in Stillicum Estes name appears on the 1874 voters' fir-covered hills. included 2 Vi miles of continuous water­ more than a month waiting for the arrival list but it must have been for the land that MARRIED front and extended a mile inwards from of Mr. Stark with the cattle. Jackson held, as the latter did not appear the sea. The property began at a point In 1855 Sylvia Estes had married Louis BOUGHT SUPPLIES on the list at any time. Howard Estes is Stark in California. The partnership of about half a mile south of Parminter Point They bought supplies from the farmers. supposed to have gone to live on Salt Louis Stark and Howard Estes began in and included Vesuvius Bay and ended These new settlers were poor, like most of Spring Island, but his son returned to the Placerville. Together they farmed, raised three-quarters of a mile south of the the immigrants. United States." cattle and horses and panned for gold in LATER SOLD IT southern point of Vesuvius Bay. One family helped to solve their own the hills. Next week Marie Stark-Wallace's problems. When they bought a sack of Jackson Estes later sold his 100 acres in Howard Estes and his son Jackson had manuscript begins on a bright day in I860 potatoes they ate the potatoes and planted what is now called the Mitchell Valley, worked as cowboys when they were when Sylvia and Louis Stark moved to Salt the peelings, thus raising another good about half-way along Telegraph Road in slaves, driving cattle both ways across the Saanich. Spring Island. continent. crop of potatoes. 1 Page Twenty-Four (B) GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Wednesday, December 19, 1979 THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY Early settlers encounter hostile Indians

Seventh in a series Lineker and family who came in 1858. SIX FAMILIES This week, Marie Stark-Wallace's As M rs. Stark remembered, there were manuscript describes pioneering in the six coloured families on Salt Spring Gulf Islands in I860. Island in 1860 when the Starks came. She said there were two old coloured people known as Grandpa Jackson and It was a bright day in 1860 when the Grandma Jackson. Grandma Jackson Starks moved to Salt Spring Island. was 112 years of age and Grandpa Sylvia remembered 1860 chiefly because Jackson was 114 years of age. They did John E. Stark, the second son, was born not stay long on Salt Spring. four months after they landed. Sylvia Stark's first sight of her new They came to the northwest side of the home on the island was an unfinished log island in a sailing vessel. The cattle were cabin surrounded by trees and thick lowered into the water with strong ropes. underbrush. It was anything but They swam to land and took the trail encouraging. It called for work, in which leading up to their home, lowing as they she would have to take part. went on without anyone to guide them. But one happy thought in this The passengers clambered down the wilderness, it was their own and it stood side of the ship on rope ladders, and into for freedom. And that all absorbing two Indian canoes manned by two thought was all the stimulus needed for Indians, a man and his wife. the coloured settlers in those days. LANDED WITH THEM A Hudson Bay Co. man landed with HADNT RECOVERED them. Mr. Macauley, the Hudson Bay They hung a quilt up for a door, and agent, offered to stay with Mrs. Stark the neighbours came and helped Mr. and the two children while Mr. Stark Stark to put a roof on the house to keen went down to the settlement to get out the rain. Sylvia had not recovered conveyance to haul their baggage. quite from the shock of their first While they were waiting for him. the landing. She found it hard to get used to two natives, with their natural keenness their wild surroundings. It was so lonely of signt. saw canoes in the distance. As being located in an isolated place quite a they drew nearer the native and his wife distance from the settlement. became very much excited, showing fear. There was no doctor available then. Tries said it was the northern Indians: She was yet in her teens, and felt the need they were hostile to the tribes inhabiting of a woman's advice and companionship. the islands in the strait. The Indian The first time she was left alone with her u oman stole away into the bush near her two small children she wept ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ despondently. Her little son Willis tried The Haida, or northern Indians, had to comfort her. Stroking her head several big canoes, seven or more, heavily soothingly, he said. "Don't cry. Ma. Let's loaded with furs. As soon as they saw the go home." The only home he knew was in small group on the beach they turned and Known to Salt Spring Islanders as dogs were invariably called upon California. headed for the spot, "the panther", Willis Stark was whenever a cougar was seen. He But a change was coming to Sylvia. r WMINED CONTENTS known for his great cougar hunting looked after his mother after his She would know the peace of a They beached their own canoes then expertise. Willis and his two hunting father's murder in 1895. comfortable saviour. She would know hauled the boat with the Stark thought this would surely be his end. why her mother used to hide away in the belongings high up on the sand and SOON SURROUNDED old shed to pray. She was often left alone examined its contents. He begged the Haida Indians to put with her children. There seemed to be no other way. Their neighbours were in the Then one of the men who could speak him ashore anywhere but the Haidas tried to out-run them but were too same predicament to some extent when English approached Mr. Macauley and their men went to town for provisions. shook an ugly knife in his face saying, heavily loaded. They were soon "Are you afraid?" surrounded by a desperate band of men on the war path and heavily armed. "We GUIDING HAND He answered with a smile and shake of will not kill the white man." they said to Looking back over those dark days, his head. Sylvia could see that Macauley the Haidas, "but we will kill you." Sylvia often made the remark, "Now I was trembling and very pale. So they agreed to let the northern can see the hand of God guiding me She had an awful feeling. She held her Indians take Mr. Macauley to his through all of my troubles, guiding me to two children close to her as they sat on a destination and they all paddled to the a higher life." log and prayed God to save her children. head of the bay we call Ganges and put Her husband was not sympathetic, so With no thought for herself, only what Macauley out. she would steal out into the woods to will become of my children when they kill They then went out into the bay and pray, although wild animals roamed me. fought a most desperate battle with through the bush; black bear, cougars, Their native pilot was sitting on the hundreds of local men to a comparatively even wolves were on the island in those ground not daring to look up. Whilethis small number of northerners. days. was happening the local Indian woman Another account of that historical But she was serving Daniel's God, the who had hidden near her canoe was battle came in a newspaper published in bush had no terrors when the urge came paddling swiftly away to inform her 1932. It read that only one of the to pray. Tillicum at Penellekut Indian village on northern braves escaped, and he was so Then one day as she lay on a couch, Kuper Island. badly wounded it was doubtful that he tired and self abandoned, these words recovered. came to her: "Fear not for 1 am with OFFERED TO HELP HOSTILE thee." (Isaiah, 41: 10) In the meantime the northern Indians That was the time the local natives It gave her joy. It was the answer to her talked with Macauley when they learned themselves were quite hostile. They held prayer. On this wild and unconquered he could speak their language. They meetings with much Skookum pow­ island she had found new life. She could offered to carry the Stark belongings up wow, Chinook strong talk, as they saw not read the Bible and understand it to the cabin, but Mr. Macauley explained their beaches and hunting grounds without the help of those faithful to them that Stark had already gone for usurped by the incoming settlers. missionaries of the Wesleyan Methodist help. The sight of carcasses of animals lying Church, who visited the settlers and read When they learned that Macauley was on the beaches, their hides taken and the the Bible to them, giving much needed visiting the Lineker family at the place meat left to spoil. When an Indian came help those days. where the Harbour House now stands, to one of such he made a clucking noise Four months after their arrival to Salt they said they would take him there as with his tongue, which indicated disgust. Spring a second son was added to the they were on their way to Victoria. Mrs. It only served as fuel to an already heated Stark family. They named him John Stark believed they would have all been situation. Edmond. He loved adventure. He took killed if they, the Haidas, had not been Salt Spring Island was officially up the trail where his parents left off and going south to sell their furs. named Admiral Island in 1859, but it still pressed further northward as a Another picture of Willis Stark Mr. Macauley's story of his experience retained the name it had acquired in prospector and mineralogist. (1856-1943), son of Louis and Sylvia with the natives is that he accepted their 1856, Salt Spring, a self name because of Stark. He was born in California and offer to take him to the other side of the its salt springs. The next instalment relates the murder came to Salt Spring with his parents in island. When they were out on their way According to the B.C. Historical of a friend of H. Estes, Jiles Curtis, by 1858. Except for one brief journey to and he was feeling quite safe they saw a Quarterly, 1951, there were 70 resident Indians. Mr. Curtis was brought to the Vancouver, Willis spent his entire life large band of local Indians with many land owners on the island in 1860. The island by Mr. Estes to help with the Stark on Salt Spring Island. canoes coming after them. Macauley first white settlers were Mr. and Mrs. family farm. • Wednesday, January 16, 1980 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Page Thirteen Stark family moves to "Fruitvale"

One evening five Indians came to the As the danger of Indian harassment Stark cabin on the mountain side. It increases, the Starks move from their happened to be on a Sunday when Mr. mountain farm at Vesuvius Bay. Their Stark was at home. The three children new farm was known as "Fruitvale" for were asleep and the youngest, a baby was the many fruit trees planted there by Louis in the cradle. Stark. The property amounted to nearly WALKED RIGHT IN /, 000 acres and reached from the north side of Ganges Harbour to the southern The Indians walked right into the house shoreline of Long Harbour. and began to examine everything in the house. They even counted the blankets on the bed while talking amongst them­ Mrs. Stark seemed to be tireless in her selves. Then one of the men took a gun efforts to make their home life enjoyable. from over the mantle where Stark kept She made hominy from the wheat and corn several guns ready-loaded. of their own raising, and sometimes boiled While the Indian was examining it, wheat had to be a substitute for bread. Stark shouted to him to be careful as the When the missionaries came they ate gun was loaded. Stark grabbed the muzzle boiled wheat too. Hominy and venison was and turned it away. "I know it's loaded," a rare dish for them. Then Sylvia tried the Indian said, and tried to wrest it from grinding the wheat in a coffee mill: the Stark's hands. flour made good whole wheat bread. Sylvia was praying silently, as she felt The work of those early ministers, like that the Indians had come to kill them. She that of the settlers, was fraught with knew that they were too many in number hardships and danger. It was necessary for her husband to have a chance. for them to make long voyages across the In the scuffle Stark held on to the gun, water in stormy weather, frequently in turning the muzzle upward. Suddenly Indian canoes. there was a terrific blast and the bullet ADAPTED THEMSELVES went through the roof. They gladfully and thankfully took what Immediately to the surprise of the accommodation their poor parishioners Starks, the Indians left quickly. It is quite were able to give them. They adapted evident they were afraid of Stark who was themselves to the same hardships their known to be a good marksman and was not parishioners faced. afraid of Indians. Some of the first Wesleyan ministers to SAW THE GUN come to Salt Spring were Thomas Crosby, An Indian going by the name of Willie who had been a missionary for many years had made an attempt .on Stark's life. But to the Indians at Port Simpson. Rev. / Stark saw the gun sights glistening in the Sextsmith, Rev. White, Mr. Cornelius sun with the gun pointing towards him in Bryant and Ebenezer Robson, who came the man's hands. Instantly Stark shouted to the island in 1861. to him, calling him by name. The man was Mr. Robson was an outstanding minis­ t/ afraid when he saw that he was detected ter of the gospel. When he came to the and knew that if he missed Stark, Stark Stark home he refused to take the best bed wouldn't miss him. He was trembling they offered him. He said it was wrong to when Stark came up to him. rob Peter to pay Paul. He preferred to S After that Stark was very careful: he sleep on a straw mattress on the floor. always took his dog with him when he He made himself generally useful: Emily Arabel Stark, who was born in went into the woods. chopping wood, bringing water from the ANGRY GROWL 1857 on Salt Spring Island. She married After the appearance of those five Once the two oldest children were spring, even churning the milk when James Clark in 1878 and died in 1890. Indians at their home the Starks felt that it Sylvia was busy with the cooking. He coming home from school when they heard an angry growl from the bush on the was quite unsafe to live in that place, so loved fried clams and would sit on the they took a claim on the other side of the beach waiting for the tide to go out so he roadside. It might have been a panther. They couldn't see it nor did they have any island. could dig clams. They moved to a claim by the seashore FIRST TO JOIN inclination to look: they ran all of the way home. When their father took his gun and where they could get plenty of seafood. Cornelius Bryant was the first man to Herring and smelt came up on the sand join the pioneer Methodist Church in went in search of the animal it was nowhere to be found. during the shoaling season and the Nanaimo. He brought his credentials with farmers raked them up with garden rakes. him from England. He also organized a During the 13 or 14 years the Stark The mussels were very large then and band of young people as helpers to the family lived on Salt Spring (before their they hung in thick clusters on the rocks. church. They called themselves the "Band PROWLERS of Hope". brief sojourn on Vancouver Island) the slaving of the settlers by Indians con­ Very often the farmers lived on clams Sometimes he brought his wife to visit tinued. Several coloured people lost their and potatoes when other necessities were the Stark family. He taught Emmie, the lives that way. scarce. However, living so close to the sea oldest of the Stark family, to play on the had its disadvantages; it was not immune organ. He took great interest in young Mr. Robinson and Giles Curtis were from prowlers. people. both slain about 1867 or 1868. Mr. One day a native stole into the house Not the least of all those early ministers Robinson, a very devoted Sunday school silently in his moccasin feet; they always was Mr. Raper. He was not an ordained teacher, often sang this old sweet song to came in without knocking. He asked in minister, but he kindly took the pulpit in his pupils: "Children of the Heavenly Chinook: Ka mika kan? (Where is your the absence of the regular ministers. Once King, as we journey let us sing." It was man?). Sylvia answered in Chinook: Wake Stark offered to black his boots for him sung in the old tune with all of the quavers syah (not far away). before he went to church. Mr. Raper took of a spiritual. I have often heard my The dog was lying asleep on the floor. it as a great joke when he discovered that mother sing it just as they sang it in the When the man spoke the dog jumped up his boots were blacked with panter grease. old log cabin school-house where she first and would have caught him by the throat if An unbarked log, cabin school-house at learned it. Sylvia hadn't prevented him; though with the crossroads at Central, Salt Spring some difficulty. Island, served as a church for the THE LAST TIME That stopped the prowling. As a rule the Methodist ministers. A coloured man One Sunday he sang it to those brave Indians were quite friendly. They sold named Robinson taught the Sunday children of the brave pioneers for the last MARIE STARK-WALLACE their commodities, salmon and all kinds of school and another coloured man, John time. He told Sylvia that next Sunday When next Sunday came and he failed seafood and berries, when they were in Jones, taught school during the week. would be his farewell meeting. He had to arrive, the congregation waited with season. The Indians needed the chicke- The three oldest Stark children had written to his wife asking her to come west growing uneasiness. Then a party went to men (money in Chinook). their first schooling in that log cabin. They but she refused to come to a wild country his house at Vesuvius Bay where they Next week further tales of the early had to walk in a trail through dense woods where the Indians were hostile, so now he found him slain in his cabin where he had settlers on Salt Spring Island, by Marie up to their mountain home. was going back to her. lived alone. Wallace [1867-1966]. I • fWYVVSW Wednesday, January 23, 1980 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY Roar of cannon heard by the Starks

from England in 1854. They were six Tenth in a series months coming across the perilous ocean Louis Stark requested the government from England to Nanaimo on a sailing to transfer his pre-emption rights to vessel, the Princess Royal. Only the another claim. Because of the fear of strong survived. The centennial of that Indian trouble he had been forced to move event was celebrated in Nanaimo in 1954, his family, and could no longer find men to when the pioneer torch was handed to the work on his farm. younger generations. One of the sounds heard by the Starks in w There was no school in the Cranberry their isolated home on the mountain-side District. Abe, Serena and I (brothers and was the roar of cannon over the north end sisters of Emma) had to go to North Cedar of Salt Spring. School which was well over eight miles They learned that it was the rounding from our home. We stayed in a log cabin up of native suspects in the slaying of two built for the teacher. Other children living Germans at Plumper Pass (now Active too far to attend school daily stayed in the Pass). teacher's cabin. Mr. and Mrs. Marks, with their son and HOME ON WEEKENDS daughter, were endeavouring to locate a We had a jolly time playing together place for a homestead near the pass. after school hours. We all went home over WENT FIRST the weekend. I was always glad to see our As they were leaving, the mother and mother coming to take us home riding on son went first in their boat expecting the old Ginnie. our faithful bespeckled mare. father and daughter to follow in their boat. They had gone quite some distance before When the bridge was in repair, Emmie they realized that the father and daughter borrowed horses from a neighbour to were not following. wade across the Nanaimo River. Emmie had her own horse. The water was so deep Fearful that something had happened to in some places our feet nearly touched the them they hastened back to the landing. water. I, for one, was very happy when we All they could see was their boat burning reached the other side. on the beach. They dared not tarry for further search but hastened and gave the On the other side of the river an Indian alarm. lodge stood plainly in sight of our cabin. Search was made for the father and On one occasion our teacher took her daughter, but the Indians living at the pupils on a visit to the lodge. It was a pass seemed to know nothing about the large, one-room building with no flooring. matter. After a lengthy search they found They made their fires in the centre of the the victims sunken in the waters of the room on the ground with an opening pass. overhead to let the smoke out. All around A CLUE the sides hung dried meat, venison, But no trace was found of the guilty half-sides of salmon, clams and other — Often the early pioneers spent painted pictures on greeting cards J dried meats preparing for winter. parties. Finally a native gave the officers a their leisure time in pursuit of the clue. He told them to go to the Indian which she sent to her friends and arts as this water colour by Marie family. PART OF SCHOOLING Village, Penellekut. on Kuper Island. It Stark-Wallace illustrates. She seemed that the informant could no longer Seeing these object lessons was a part hide the truth. enlarged it and made a fruit farm. Louis to a fence with bars that had to be pulled of our elementary schooling. In our home The officers then commanded the Stark was the first man to the claim, he down before we could pass through. on Vancouver Island we had whole legs of Penellekut tribe to give up the guilty moved his family there to be safe from venison dried, and we ate bear meat when parties or they would all be liable. This Indian trouble. I remember that a little SEEN MANY HILLS it was dried and smoked. It tasted like they failed to do. white pig used to come into the house and Since then I have seen many hills bacon when cooked with cabbage. Then came the gun-boats shelling the they would feed him there. I also leading up from the beach on Salt Spring We were really pioneering. When the village. Still there was no response. Then remember the noisy whales that came into where the sea has made its bed. And there Indians were going to have a feast they very cautiously the officers entered the our small bay. is a petrified log on the beach at Fruitvale, gave us curly lily bulbs. They said they village only to find it deserted. All had fled black and hard as though in transforma­ were good to eat when roasted. They gave but one, an aged blind woman. They gave TEMPORARY SHELTER tion from wood to coal. It has been them in exchange for bread, but we her some tea and crackers, which she ate A small, unbarked log cabin stood chopped and left as though the attempt preferred to plant them for flowers. with relish.- She was evidently very inside the yard. It was a temporary shelter had been made by a dull axe, perhaps a When we were going home we often hungry. for the family while the big cabin was stone age. passed by a young Indian on the roadside It was a long time before they traced the being built. After it was completed the It was sometime in the early 70's when making a canoe. He was weeks and guilty party to their hiding place, where small cabin was occupied by a pioneer we embarked on the S.S. Maud, a mere months chipping away on a large log, they were captured. family named Frederson, from the Ha­ tug boat but strong and seaworthy. It apparently a cedar log. Gradually it turned LEARNED OF CULTURE waiian Islands. carried many head of livestock as well as into a warrior canim (canoe). Willis Stark learned something of the They were coloured Hawaiians, perhaps passengers. The steward on the boat was The big end of the log was the front of culture of the Vancouver Island Indians the first of their country people to come to a coloured man named Scott. We have his the canoe. When we praised his handi­ from Captain Verygood, a much respected the island. They occupied the cabin until photograph yet, none the worse for age. work he smiled his approval. The natives man in the area. He said there were hiyou they found a place of their own. They were The Emma was the name of another were pleased when we showed apprecia­ snows (big snows) on the island. the first family to take the claim now boat running this route. Her cook was a tion for their way of life. Louis Stark's The Indians wore nothing on their feet known as the Mansel farm. coloured man also; they were good cooks. home was a log cabin with flooring of pine more than moccasins and they went Whenever I went to their cabin Mrs. logs, split and layed close together, the through those heavy winters without Frederson would always give me a cookie NO SNOW flat side shaved and polished. Two planks catching cold. They lived to see many and one to her grandchild Rena. That was There was no snow when we left the were not nailed down so they could be moons. Now, after their contact with one reason I enjoyed going to see Rena. island but when we came to Nanaimo a raised to get apples from a root cellar civilization, they caught cold the same as thin layer had fallen. Two boys in knee beneath the floor. The log cabin was the white man. Then our Dad, Louis Stark, took a claim breeches stood on the wharf watching the surrounded with chips and stood on a low My recollections of those early days on on Vancouver Island in the Cranberry boat drifting in. Later we learned that they hill. Salt Spring Island are like a dream gone District, so called at that time. were the children of our neighbours in the dim with age. I first saw the light on a I was too young to remember my age Cranberry District. farm near the seashore, a farm that but I remember well the day we left Salt Their father, Mr. John Richardson, Next week the penultimate instalment eventually took on the name of Fruitvale. Spring. I carried the memory of that scenic came out with his wife, two sons and a of the Stark family history tells the stirring When Captain Scott bought it he path leading up hill through the blue grass daughter with a large band of immigrants account of the murder of Louis Stark.

LOUIS' S.S.I. Farmers' Institute Fruit Tree Bangert & Van Meel ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING PRUNING BUILDERS & DESIGNERS WEDNESDA Y. JANUARY 30 AND/OR OF DISTINCTIVE HOMES 8 p.m. SPRAYING Back for another season REASONABLE RATES 537-5692 or 537-9657 UNITED CHURCH HALL tfo 537-9525Cor537-2329 Wednesday, February 6, 1980 Page Sixteen GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD THE HISTORY OF THE STARK FAMILY The murder of Louis Stark

if there was any intimation of food The final chapter of Marie Stark- poisoning, they would shoot him down Wallace's family history is presented before they died in true western style. here. The manuscript, which she wrote herself, was researched by Peggy Walker, The butcher seemed to be getting a cousin of Mrs. Frank Waterfall of suspicious of John. Once he came to North Beach Road. Mrs. Walker spent John's house, holding an axe handle in four years tracing the history of the Estes his hand. He was so restless, John and Stark families. thought he saw murder in his eyes, so he took his gun from the wall and pretended he was cleaning it, slyly watching the Louis Stark was born on a plantation butcher. This lasted until the butcher in Louisville. Kentucky. He never knew went home. his own age. but he remembered seeing the stars fall in 1833. WENT HUNTING From his earliest recollections he wore It was strange that the butcher seemed a one-piece garment of coarse home-spun to take John's detective in his confidence. cloth, his only covering. It served, too. He and the -detective often went out for a sleeping gown. The children's cabin hunting together. One night they were was a dirt floor. camping out. The butcher said to the The children slept on old mattresses, detective, "1 like Willis, but I don't like with rags for a covering. For their dinner that John. a large pot was placed in the centre of the one big room. There were no seats. Each "If you will help me put him out of the child had a spoon and a piece of way, you will be well paid for it." This cornbread, and they all ate from that one knowledge came back to John. From pot of stew. This tarty port cmrd shows Willis Stark who was famous Islands for his cougar hunting abilities. then on he never slept in the house alone at night. Sometimes he rode his horse as KEPT A NURSERY A TEACHER John Stark had written to his father, far away as Wellington and stayed all In spite of these handicaps, Louis grew Emma, his daughter, trained in naming the day he would return. That night with friends, then returned the next up to be a strong young man. He was the Nanaimo for her teaching career. On was good news to the old man, quite day. son of a white slave-master who kept a August I. 1874 (this information naturally he would tell the butcher, as nursery and taught Louis how to graft obtained from school records) she was well as other friends. fruit trees. engaged to teach in a one-room school in One evening John went to the Under another master, he learned the the Cedar district. butcher's to get his milk. He still trade of a barber and worked as a barber FOUL PLAY continued to take milk from him, The children who lived a long way When John came back, he took over regardless of the risk, as he was still on the boats plying the Mississippi River. from the school boarded with Emma. It was never learned how he stood with the care of the animals on the farm and working with the detective. One of the students was Marie Stark, her then wrote to the authorities in Victoria. his boss, but the slaves sometimes younger sister. On weekends Emma rode worked and shared their money with the He asked their assistance, as his father's home on the back of her horse with Marie death hinted at foul play. He was standing on one side of the cow Otherwise they must hase free riding behind her. Their legs dangled in while the butcher was milking on the papers to work for themselves. the water of a stream they had to cross. In other side. Suddenly a flash from a pistol- it back to school on a He wrote several letters before he got shot underneath the cow sent a bullet During this time LoD home-made ilefgW!'{lulled by oxen an answer. His last letter said that anyone whizzing past John. All John said was, notorious Jesse James, who was fleeing Emma taught for several years at a who had paid taxes in theeouhtry as long "•Now I know you," and left immediately. from the police and wanted to hide his starting salary of $40 a month. On as his father had, deserved some identity. recognition. The answer came immedi­ December 27, 1878, she married James ARRESTED Louis Stark went to California during Clark in Victoria. B.C. ately, and a detective was sent to the the gold rush. If he was a free man, his farm. He had collected all the evidence he She died on July 30, 1890 at the age of thought necessary for a conviction. He free papers could not be trusted, for he 33, and was buried on Salt Spring Island. had to pass as a Spaniard to hide his had the butcher arrested, not for Her grave is next to her grandfather's, John never knew why the delay in identity. attempted murder of himself, but for the Howard Estes. answering his letters, but the detective murder of his father. It was there he met his wife, Sylvia seemed to have such small interest in the Estes. They were married in 1855. Their STARK'S CROSSING case that John dismissed him and hired An autopsy revealed that the tale the two oldest children, Willis and Serena, About three-quarters of a mile away his own detective and worked with him. were born in California, the rest of the butcher told was entirely false. The from the old farmsite in the Cranberry victim had eaten his breakfast shortly family of seven were »born in British district stands the intersection of two Columbia. John and the butcher were very before his death and the remains were roads known as Stark's Crossing. The friendly. He told John that the owner of three days old, instead of a night and one size of the property that Louis owned is the mine then in operation had given him day. TO CANADA not officially recorded, although some Because of the possibility of the laws in $50,000 for some technical advantage he area residents say the property contained had shown him about the new mine. California being changed to make it a two lakes. Congealment was complete before the slave state, the Stark and Estes families Louis Stark's nearest neighbour was a limb was broken. The stable dirt on his decided to join a group of free slaves butcher by trade. Every week the butcher COAL boots showed they had not gone through (Howard Estes, Sylvia's father, having killed a lamb for Stark, keeping a quarter Louis Stark's property contained large the bush. A single concussion showed bought his family's freedom) from San for himself. amounts of coal which were owned by there had been no fall from a 1,000 ft. Francisco, and migrate to Canada. Stark but were under development by cliff. Also a hunter gave evidence that he It was learned that Sir James Douglas, mining interests based in Victoria. hunted birds along the foot of the cliff on whose mother was West Indian, would be It was this neighbour who brought the the same day the butcher claimed that he partial to the petition of the coloured tragic news to the authorities in It was strange too, that the man on the was searching for Stark, but the hunter people. A delegation had gone before to Nanaimo. He said that he and Stark were street knew more about the case than said he saw nothing on the rock where the ask permission from Douglas, then out hunting sheep the day before without John himself. One man told John he remains were found. governor, to settle in B.C. success. would tell him who killed his father and When they came to the butcher's place So in 1858, with a group of 600 to 800 all about the case when he got the FREED free people, they came to B.C. and settled* they were tired. He said he tried to opportunity. That man was drowned in persuade Stark to have tea at his home, After all the evidence and witnesses in the Saanich Peninsula. Different Cowichan Lake. That closed another were heard, the butcher was allowed to members of the group scattered to but Stark would not stop. The butcher avenue to the murder. said that Stark wished to go to his own depart. The hunter said he would not various sections of B.C., some settling in have given his testimony if he had known Victoria. Land could be obtained at the cabin. There had been a man arrested for the the case would prove a failure, for he had rate of 20 shillings per acre, one-quarter to live in the district. to.be paid on taking possession. murder but he successfully produced an DIDNT APPEAR AN OATH alibi and was released from the charges. So he gave him a pit-lamp to light his Another man who offered information The last evidence, proving his tale was The taking of an oath of allegiance was way. The story told was that they were to to John was a Scotsman who lived in false, came too late to be classified with required for citizens to enjoy all the rights meet at the butcher's house and go out northern B.C. He telegrammed John, the other evidence. A cougar had caught and privileges of a British subject. In again the next day. Next day Stark failed saying to hold the investigation until he a lamb from the barn and John thought 1860, Louis Stark, with his wife Sylvia to appear so the neighbour went to his arrived. He was murdered in Prince to look in a thicket close to the barn to and their two children, arrived on Salt house. The door was not locked so he Rupert on his way to Nanaimo. find it. He did not find the lamb, but he Spring Island. went inside and felt in the ashes in the found a bundle of soiled clothing his In the early 70's Louis sailed from Salt fireplace; they were cold. BRIBES father had been in the habit of taking to a Spring Island to a new home in Nanaimo. John and the detective soon discovered neighbour to be laundered. His son Willis stayed on Salt Spring with Then he searched for him, but did not that the man caught near the trail where his mother, and his other son, John, was find him until night came on. Stark's hat the hat and the cane were found was not It was the belief of the people who lived prospecting on the Stikine and Skeena and cane were found in the bush not far the guilty party. They also discovered in the area, and members of the butcher's Rivers. from the road leading to the home of a that bribes were given to men Whose duty family later agreed, that the butcher had After farming on Salt Spring, Louis man who was unfriendly to Stark. His was to guard the lives of the-public. been paid $50,000 by the mining moved to Nanaimo, where he lived for body was found at the foot of a cliff. The Willis, John's brother, joined him at company to kill Stark. The murder was in some time before purchasing a farm in Chinese man who worked on the Stark the farm. By now they were suspicious of 1895. the Cranberry district, outside of farm had also disappeared, and his the butcher. One day the butcher invited But he had been set free and allowed to Nanaimo. disappearance was to remain a mystery. them to dinner. They both had pistols, so proceed to England with his wealth.